douse
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To plunge suddenly into water.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dowsIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdaʊs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
ambitransitive
To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse.
Put out, as of a candle or a light
transitive
To put out; to extinguish.
intransitive
To fall suddenly into water.
transitive
To strike, beat, or thrash.
Lower quickly
noun
A sudden plunging into water.
A blow or strike, especially to the face.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (ambitransitive) To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse.
Used this way, douse is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.